The Widmayer Touch

Just over ten years ago, June 1973, Charles Edward Widmayer '30 rose to his feet following a delightful retirement dinner in his honor at the Dartmouth Outing Club House. Avoiding the usual platitudes offered on such an occasion, Charlie chose instead, with his customary self-effacing modesty, to offer some solid advice on what not to do upon retirement. His list of "don'ts" included, "Don't think you'll be missed, you won't be!"

Charlie hasn't been missed at all, because for the past decade of his retirement he's willingly responded to every request with his advice, service, and assistance to both the College and the Hanover community. This 75 th anniversary issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE contains a particularly interesting piece written by Charlie Widmayer reflecting on the thirty years of his magazine editorship (1943-1973). When Dennis Dinan '61 resigned as editor last December, the College asked Charlie to step back in as acting editor, and he put out four issues of the magazine prior to the appointment of Doug Greenwood '66 as the new editor.

This past July, Widmayer represented the College and the ALUMNI MAGAZINE at a gathering of Sibley Award winners in San Francisco on the 40th anniversary of the award. The Robert Sibley Award is given annually to the most outstanding alumni publication in the nation and Dartmouth was the first recipient of the award in 1943, when the late Sid Hay ward '26 was editor and Charlie was associate editor. Dartmouth received a second Sibley Award in 1949 when Charlie was on his own.

A few years ago Charlie had given freely of his talents in helping the Tuck School launch its alumni magazine Tuck Today. For a number of early issues he served as its editor before a full-time person could be found. To keep his writing skills honed, Widmayer has been writing most of the citations for the dozen or so alumni awards which are presented annually by the College to its sons and daughters.

The Class of 1930 has also called on Charlie he's a long-time Alumni Fund class agent, he's played major roles in editing both the 25th and 40th reunion books, has served on the '30 executive committee, and has assisted with all of the Hanover reunions.

Charlie's most striking achievement in the past decade has been the careful research and skilled writing (ably assisted by Edward Connery Lathem '5 1) of Hopkins atDartmouth. A major undertaking, this volume occupied the first' four years of his retirement and was published in 1977 by the University Press of New England under the Dartmouth College imprint. Its primary focus was on the 29 years of the Dartmouth presidency of Ernest Martin Hopkins '01 (the first editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE) and it received excellent reviews and a wide readership in the Dartmouth family. So much for Charlie's "twilight years" in retirement!

It hardly seems possible that Charlie has been around Dartmouth for more than a half century. He looks and acts very much the same as he did back in the fall of 1950 when I reported to him in the News Service operation. Few recall that Widmayer started his career at Dartmouth, after a year as an English instructor, as Director of the College's News Service, later on assuming the added responsibility of Director of Sports Information. He spent ten years as Director of the News Bureau, 1933—43, and started his career with the ALUMNI MAGAZINE in 1935 as sports editor, becoming associate editor before he took over the reins in 1943.

In many respects these were the pioneering days for alumni publications and college public relations, and Charlie soon became an active and recognized leader in these areas, serving on various committees for two professional associations, AAC (American Alumni Council) and ACPRA (American College Public Relations Association). He was at one time a director and chairman for the. New England region of ACPRA, and was chairman of the AAC's publications committee and subsequently honored by both groups.

With the receipt of the Sibley Award in 1949, both the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE and its editor gained national recognition. Charlie served as national director of publications for AAC; he aut hored a monograph for the AAC for editors and business managers; he later chaired the Ivy League's magazine editors.

Naturally enough, in 1937 Widmayer was one of the founding editors of EPE (Editorial Projects in Education), which, under Operation Moonshooter, produced a series of thought-provoking articles that were made available for publication in alumni magazines nationwide. Subsequently EPE began publication of TheChronicle of Higher Education, distributed to those engaged in publications, fund raising, public relations, and alumni affairs at colleges throughout the nation.

But Charlie's focus and interests always remained primarily with getting out those ten issues each year of the MAGAZINE. For about 15 years I was associated with him as sports editor and then contributing editor. He was always a thoughtful, meticulous editor, and above all he insisted that copy be delivered on or before deadline. With few exceptions over thirty years, each issue came out almost exactly as scheduled.

"The way to cut is to cut!" Charlie would often say, as his blue pencil moved relentlessly across copy, chopping words, sentences even paragraphs to make the article more succinct and readable.

Like a highly-skilled billiards player planning five or six shots ahead, Charlie also had the ability to look well beyond one issue. In his desk he kept a continuing file of "ideas" on articles and things he wanted to" publish and which he checked off when published or sometimes crossed off when something proved not worth doing. He enjoyed working closely with his staff, encouraging both initiative and ideas, and reserving an aloof silence for those who disappointed him in their writing or came up with a piece after deadline.

It was Dero Saunders '35, himself an editor (Forbes Magazine), who perhaps said it best. Writing in the May 1973 issue of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE a surreptitiously inserted tribute to Charlie upon his retirement, Saunders noted, "that he has solved within his area of stewardship what is possibly the most serious problem of modern man how to be faithful to multiple sets of often conflicting loyalties and obligations." A long-time member of the Magazine's advisory board and a close friend of Charlie's, Saunders added with what now seems prophetic insight, "To be good, a publication must be free, and Charlie's primary and uppermost concern has always been to prevent the Magazine from being used by anyone in any way or for any purpose that would compromise its editorial integrity."

As might be expected, Charlie has been the recipient of numerous awards and citations from Dartmouth, professional associations, and the world of higher education. In 1978, he represented the College and the ALUMNI MAGAZINE at a special awards dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, where the DARTMOUTH ALUMNI MAGAZINE and its editors were cited by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Newsweek tor the ALUMNI MAGAZINE'S 50 years of significant contributions to higher education. In June 1976, at the Class of 1930's reunion banquet in Hanover, Charlie received one of the College's highest honors an alumni award citing him as "the supreme commander of all alumni magazines." In 1962 he had received the American Alumni Council's first "Distinguished Service" award, an honor which was accorded him twice before his retirement. In 1964, Columbia University presented him with its Gold Medal award for "Distinguished Contributions in the Publications Field," and in 1969 his class honored him with its "Man of the Year" award.

There is not likely to be another Charlie Widmayer coming along. His was a very special 41 years of sustained service and dedicated stewardship in the numerous and repeated contributions he made to Dartmouth and to higher education.

In a pose familiar to many, Charlie Widwiayerblue-pencils his way through a stack of manuscripts in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE'S old office inCrosby Hall.

Cliff Jordan, '45, longtimefriend and associate of Charlie Widmayer, is currently DevelopmentAssociate of the Alumni Fund. From 1952 until 1961, he was Sports Editor of the Miagazine.